There I was, minding my own business, when, suddenly I am projected onto the world's stage, invading everyone's radio and telly. How this all came about is a confusing chain of events, but stick with it and I'll try to make it as simple as I can. Here goes:
A few weeks ago my wife, Mandy, contacted the local newspaper and told them that I was
working down here. They ran a small article on me using the information Mandy gave them. (They misquoted her on some of the facts, but hey... that's journalism).
Then someone at Anglia Television read the article and contacted BAS, saying that they'd like to do a report on me, but they couldn't send a reporter all the way down here. BAS told Anglia that, by coincidence, Athena Dinar of the media team was at Rothera already, and that they would get her to shoot some footage.
Athena recorded an interview and filmed me working around the base. She also recorded interviews with some other guys working here to be used as part of BAS's latest recruitment drive.
Still with me? Good....
When Athena got back to Cambridge she skillfully edited all the interviews and footage. My interview featured quite heavily in the presentation.
Athena called and told me that Anglia would be showing the presentation on Thursday or Friday, so straight away I sent out a quick email, letting everyone know that it was going to be shown.
Then Bas put out a press release and the media latched onto it. All of a sudden tv and radio stations were clamouring to interview me or show the footage on their news and magazine programmes.
Athena phoned and said that the BBC Breakfast show and GMTV were going to show some of the film and asked if would mind doing the interviews. I thought it would be fun, so I agreed without hesitation.
The first recorded interview would be that evening and the first live one the following morning.... at 3am Rothera time!!!
Hmph...!!....
Fun, huh?....
Hmph....!!....
Again, I sent out an email informing everyone.
The interviews started Thursday morning and went on throughout the day. I did more on Friday and another two more on Monday morning. The total count so far is:
Footage shown on GMTV , BBC Breakfast show and Anglia TV's evening regional programme;
Recorded interviews for BBC Radio1 Newsbeat and BBC Radio5-Live;
Done live interviews for the BBC World Service, the Today programme on BBC Radio4, BBC Radio Wales, and BBC 3Counties Radio.
I have also done telephone interviews with the Daily Mirror newspaper and trade magazine Professional Electrician. The Electrical Times want to do an article on me, as do the Luton News.
There have been articles about BAS's campaign in various publications and on some newsblogs:
NERC's Planet Earth website; Zimbio Newsblog; The Cambridge News; and, most bizarrely, a translated version of a Slovenian newspaper, Mladina.
Elsewhere in Rothera-ville: we had a royal visit from Crown-Prince Willem of the Netherlands, and his wife, Princess Maxima. It was an official visit to promote awareness of the collaboration between British and Dutch polar scientists. The Dutch are really interested in global warming and the possibility of melting polar ice-caps. Their scientists come to Rothera and use the facilities here because the Dutch don't have any Antarctic bases of their own. I'm sure the Prince and Princess found the tour enjoyable and informative. They were very friendly; just like ordinary people...if you know what I mean.
Last week BAS took all this season's winterers on a jolly. We were taken out on Daisy, our Dash-7 aircraft and flown all around Adelaide Island and part of the peninsular. I know I fly a lot down here, but that is work. We fly straight there and straight back. this was different. Alan and Mark, the pilots, took us to all the interesting places that feature in Rothera's local history. It was a real treat, and we all enjoyed it very much. I took loads of photos, but I'm sure you don't really want to see more photos of mountains and snow and icebergs......do you???
The night has returned to Rothera at last. It was soooo good to see the moon and the stars again after all this time. The nights are rapidly getting longer, though. In a few weeks time I'll be longing to see daylight again.
Rothera is slowly preparing for winter; more people are leaving and less people are appearing. In five weeks the last faces will go home, leaving us looneys to face the Antarctic winter alone....
And finally...the penguin spot. There are penguins constantly invading the base, but I haven't taken any more photos of them lately. So instead I'll post a video of Bubba, the legendary base Head Skua. He came over for a chat while I was working over in the hanger the other day. Bubba was missing his best mate Clem, who had been sent out into the field for a few days. I could hear his footsteps behind me as he followed me all over the hanger. Unfortunately, Bubba isn't house-trained so I had a bit of clearing up to do after he left. Charming....
